The Martian
by tatarevic1
Summary: The Martian, chapter 1-2 is all about how this 17 year old girl landed on Mars. She is a student who is quite the genius. She gets all these advantages, hence the reason why she even made it to Mars. This is the story of what Melanie does in order to survive. She has to face challenges and over come a lot. Will she even make it back to earth in time for prom?
1. Chapter 1-2

Chapter 1

Log Entry: Sol 6

I just opened my eyes and stared at what was up above. I didn't really understand exactly what had happened to me at first. All I knew was that I'm alive. I am barely alive.

I am a 17 year old girl stuck on Mars. I am all alone and I'm hurt. I have no clue on how to do anything. I don't even know how to do my own laundry, yet alone survive on Mars.

I traveled through space on Hermes. I was the only teenager on board. All the others were old and stuff. They were experienced and knew exactly what they were doing. But me? Yeah I was just along for the ride. I am a senior who attends Nile High. I'm sort of a really big nerd so I get all these advantages. I've expressed an interest in space and all this traveling that I sent this very long email to NASA asking if I can attend this mission. Now I know that that might have been the dumbest decision I've ever made.

Our mission started great. There were no problems until day 6. A big storm decided to come our way. It was really bad, so bad that NASA told us to abort. I followed the crew back, but I got caught in the storm. It took me and before I knew it, I was unconscious. I figured during the storm, something sharp must have stabbed me and that is why I'm in pain now. I'm assuming that the squad left me. I see nothing in sight. I am scared. I am going to die a slow death and worst of all, I'm going to die on Mars.

Chapter 2

Log Entry: Sol 7

Well I'm still alive. I'm still breathing so I guess that that's good. I wish I wasn't though. I am going to go crazy. I feel much better today. My blood has dried.

I started to explore around. I found many suits and I found food. I found a lot of food, probably can last me at least 5 years. I found the communication dish, it was broken. I looked around some more gaining hope. I have a place to sleep and I have food. I can just wait here until they return for me.

As the day went on, I started to get creative. I looked around some more. I found seeds, and quite a few actually. I wanted to plant them, but how? I spent most of the day figuring out how I can accomplish planting on Mars. Projects like these gave me a thrill in life. I love to be challenged. I can feel my brain light up.

I sat there and started brainstorming on all the ways that things start to grow with. I thought and thought and the idea just came to me. MY POOP! It will fertilize those seeds like no other. A little gross, but I got to do what I got to do.

I've decided to plant them in the hab. God, I can't wait to see if this will actually work. What if I become famous one day. Like the first ever to plant on Mars! I'm just a little genius.

I've finished my planting and then I got bored. There's no TV, social media, internet, or even people. I am going to grow insane. I thought of home. What my friends were doing, what my mom was doing. I wanted to somehow communicate with them. I want them to know that I'm stuck here and that I'm alive. I can't believe I'm stuck here. How can they leave me? I'm only 17.


	2. Chapter 3-7

October 02, 2015

Chapter 3

It is already day 30 and I am struggling like no other. I am worried. I am basically like dead meat just decaying. How am I suppose to survive if I can't even get water to plant my seeds.

I spent most of my day just thinking and thinking. I thought of everything problem is that I need water. How can I get this water from Mars? I am literally screwed. There is no way around this.

After much thinking and stressing, I thought of an idea. The hab has oxygen and hydrogen which can be useful to me. I can use them to create my water. The only problem is by combining these two together, I can blow myself up. I don't remember exactly how dangerous this is because I basically slept through the class, but I know it's bad.

Because I had a difficult time recalling, I started to panic. I couldn't get my dumb brain to think back to how all this works together. Nethertheless, I also had no idea of how to even collect the hydrogen. I mean there has to be a way, but it just wasn't coming to be. That night, I stayed away thinking of all the ways I can even dream of collecting hydrogen.

Chapter 4

I came up with a plan. It wasn't easy, but I have managed. I will need to make some water by slowly releasing hydrazine. Yes I know, it sounds like a mission. It is. I then need to separate the hydrogen from the nitrogen. After I do that, I will have to burn the hydrogen. In doing so, I am hoping that it will slowly combine with the oxygen in the air to create water.

I know that this very dangerous, but I figured that it's my only choice. I'm pretty much dead anyway so I have to give this a try.

I decided to officially start my plan. I started to store the water in bags and a spacesuit as well. I figured that these two will appropriate because they will hold. If it works, it works. If not, at least I tried.

As the days were passing, I started to doubt my plan. It didn't seem to be working out. I just wanted to give up because there is only so much I can take. I'm not suitable for this. I can't be here right now.

Turns out that I miscalculated by a ton. Now I have extra hydrogen just floating around the Hab. This made me cry. I have just created my own bomb. I thought to myself this is how I die. I am a finished teen!

Chapter 5

I've been trying out this new thing where I can't panic. It's not that I don't want to, I just can't afford it. I need to stay focused if I want to live.

I know that I need to remove all of the oxygen from the Hab. By removing the oxygen, I will prevent an explosion from taking place.I will then slowly release the oxygen to burn off the hydrogen. But of course, there is a problem. If I remove oxygen. then my soil will start to die. I can't have my soil die, I need it.

I thought of ways that I can prevent this from happening. If I were to store the potatoes outside, I can then lower the temperature in the Hab. If the temperature in the Hab is low, I can be able to save the soil. Low temperature will put the soil back into hibernation.

Everything was going good for me, until it wasn't anymore. BOOM! Literally BOOM!. I have created a explosion. I could've sworn that I saw my eyes flash before my eyes. How am I not dead yet? I have messed up so many times that I don't even deserve to be breathing.

I knew why it exploded. I was realsion oxygen every time I took a breath. I needed the Hab to saty oxygen free, but because I don't think, I almost killed myself.

In the end, the hydrogen is gone. That's good for me. I still have to create water in a way, but at least this time I'll be more smart about it.

Chapter 6

NASA's Johnson Space Center, a director named Venkat Kapoor has just heard the news of my death. He basically collapsed because it is that tragic. He was joined by Teddy Sanders. Teddy didn't mind delivering a speech regarding me. He was kinda like a jerk. Anyways, Venkat was too busy prepping for the Ares 4 mission.

Venkrat wanted satellite images so he got them from Teddy. He wanted to find anything that was worth saving since the day. Teddy didn't necessarily agree to this, but because he's a man of the people, he had to. Teddy knows that he has to release all information to the public immediately after they receive it. He wasn't very excited about it because he didn't want anybody to see my body.

Later on in the day, a woman Mindy searched through the satellite images. She found something unordinary. She found clean solar panels. She thought to herself how there is no way that they can be clean like that.

Discovering the panels freaked everybody out. Some wanted to turn around and save me, while others were being a pain. They didn't want to believe that they had abandoned me.

The story came out, as it should be. My name went across headlines. Melanie left in space was said by everyone. I thought they would act right away, but they didn't. I wanted to be saved, but like I said earlier, their plan is Ares. 4 years from now seems like a mission.

Chapter 7

The days were passing. It's day 63 now. My water has been cooperating. My seeds are growing. I can honestly say, things have been well.

I still think of how Ares is my only way out of here. I can't bear to imagine even how long that will be. The number four is engraved in my head.

I need to make my perilous trip possible. By doing so, I need rovers. I r=took Rover 1's battery and I installed it in Rover 2. This should help, but it's not permanent. My other problem is that I am freezing. I cannot get enough heat to keep me warm. I try to put on as much clothes as I can, but there is no way around it.

I found the RTG. A RTG is very, very hot. It was buried, but I have 20/20 vision. I then got back to my rover project. It was very complicated. I was just putting ideas into my head. It was literally whatever popped in.

I ran my first test and it turned out to be a successful test. I got good results with this test. so I prepared for a even bigger one. I went back to the Hab just hoping.


	3. Chapter 8-12

Chapter 8

 _CNN's Melanie Report_ is discussing the satellite imagery from Mars. They are talking about it like they know exactly what is going on. They think that I am preparing Rover 2 for a long trip. I don't know why they would think that. They are saying that I am planning to go to Ares 4 and find supplies there. I wouldn't do that because I know that there aren't any.

They have this girl monitoring me at all times. In a way, I find that extremely weird, but if it'll help save me; I can't complain. Also, there is some trouble with the crew. Ares 3 crew hasn't been notified that I am still alive. They don't want them to worry because their main priority is to get home at this point.

Anyway, the plan is to use a probe to send me supplies. This probe was originally meant for Ares 4, but I need it more. They are planning to launch in the probe in about six months, a lot sooner than originally planned.

With all this waiting, I thought of something to do. I did in fact use the rover, but I didn't use it for what they think. I used it for Pathfinder. I want to get the thing up and running so that I can communicate with NASA. I just have to first figure out how to do that.

Chapter 9

I am on my way to the Pathfinder. I have no idea how long it'll take. I am bored outta my mind at this point. There is honestly nothing to do.

During my travel, I had much time to think. I hated myself. It was all my fault of how this originally started. Why couldn't I be just a regular kid my age who loved to hang out and eat. But no, I'm the type to want to sign up to go to Mars. My stupid curiosity got me into this mess.

Well, I'm still traveling. It has been about 10 days since I departed. I am still bored outta my mind.

Finally. The 11th day, I made it to the Pathfinder. The Pathfinder comes in two parts. It has a lander and a rover. I know that the lander is very important. I believe that it is the part that can communicate with the earth. My goal is to get it working. I have to fix it somehow if I ever want a chance to communicate with other human lives.

The rover came in many parts. I figured it wasn't bad to have it. I can use the spare parts for things to work on.

Chapter 10

I have been stuck on Mars for 90 days now! It has been 90 days! When I look back at it, what in the world did I do for 90 days.

I am currently traveling back to the Hab. I bought the Rover and the Lander with me. It has been seven days so far. Along the way, I made a few stops. Whenever I saw a cool rock or something interesting, I took it for keeps. You never know, if I make it back to earth; they can put them in a museum or something.

I became more comfortable with my situation. I feel as if I'm more optimistic. I have this lander that can help me communicate. I think that's a great thing to have.

So I'm finally back. I started to run around. It felt great to be out. Who knew I'd be this happy to see the Hab.

I started to work on the rover and lander. The lander's battery was dead. I left it outside and used the Hab's power for it.

I just observed the lander. I didn't notice any changes. It wasn't responding at all. I told myself not to panic. I gave it some time hoping for the best.

Chapter 11

YESSSSSS! Communication is key. The lander worked. I can finally communicate with humans! With earth!

The first image from Mars comes into NASA hq. It was a handwritten note telling them to point the camera in one direction to say yes, and another to say no.

The only major problem was that it dragged to get messages. It took like 30 minutes for just one message to make it across. So NASA created a system that moved a lot faster.

To improve even more, they thought of a way to hack the system to directly receive messages on the rover screen. The problem to that is that I had to hack the system. I am good, but I'm not that good.

I played around with the code. I looked at it over and over again and I started punching in random things. All I had to do was enter a code. I stared at it some more and I just put it in. I entered the code. Now, communication will be great.

As I was hacking the system, the people back at NASA agreed to let Ares 3 know that I am alive. I don't know if that's a good idea but they agreed on it because there is finally some hope.

Chapter 12

We are back to day 6. Day 6 is the day where everything went downhill.

From my crew's perspective, they knew about the storm. They knew it was coming, they just didn't know that it was going to be that bad.

So yeah, we were told to hide and get out of the way. So we did. After a few, we had to get back to the hab. And that's where I was taken by the wind and my crew thought I was dead.

Fast forward to present day, my crew is waiting for their e-mail vidoes from home. And in this email, they found out that I'm still alive.

They were happy. They started to celebrate. After a while, the moment got sad. They still did leave a teenage girl by herself on Mars. Yes I did sign a contract and stuff, but I don't know any better. These people were suppose to protect me and bring me back home. I guess not.


	4. Chapter 13-17

Chapter 13

So I've finally found a way to communicate to earth. It feels great. Now I know that I am not going to lose my mind talking to myself all the time. In a way, NASA is very controlling. They are literally planning out my days for me. They tell me what to do and exactly how to do it. I've survived a good amount of days without them; they are making it seem like I have no clue.

Anyway, the topic is food. How am I going to survive with limited food supply. They believe that I have enough food for 900 days. They plan to ship me more food with the probe around day 850.

To keep things going smoothly, I decided to continue my own little farm. I have to continue planting more potatoes if I want to survive, but of course there is a problem. The water reclaimer seems to be acting up. This made me nervous.

The hab started to act up. There was a huge dust storm which made the Hab shake. Oh, and the Hab exploded. I was standing in the airlock which was leaking. Now I am definitely screwed.

Chapter 14

I have so many problems right now. First of all, my spacesuit is messed up. My faceplate is broken. I had to fix it somehow so I decided to cut off the sleeve of another suit and I glued it on.

Also, there was a hole somewhere inside the airlock. I had to find out exactly where at so I used smoke to locate it to seal it.

After I got all that fixed, I found my way towards the hab. When I entered, I found a huge mess. The damage broke my heart.

The potatoes and ration packs that have already grown are edible, but the potatoes I just started to plant are destroyed. All my hard work, just gone.

I was very disappointed. I'm not going to have food for as long as we all planned for me to have. I was suppose to have enough food for like 900 days. Now I'm down to like 600. That is 300 days! yeah, I am going to starve myself to death.

On the bright side, the Hab can be repaired. At least, I still have a place to be. Now I just gotta work.

Chapter 15

I struggled to get the Hab back online. After the explosion, it all seemed to have went to hell. I played around with it and I finally got it back. I let NASA and the crew know exactly what happened. I told them that I am basically dead. I told them that my water reclaimer is also not working. They told me not to worry. I can easily fix it if I concentrated.

So NASA is determined to send food my way. They have this guy who apparently is very good at sending a probe to Mars. They want to send me supplies in a probe named SAVEME. They want to send it fast so they have to work at it to get it right.

In order to get SAVEME up and going, they can't test it. They just have to go with it. And that is exactly what they did. They just launched it. No time to spare.

It went up. It was doing well. Everyone actually thought there was a chance. But of course, nothing really goes the way we hope it to. There was a strong force that caused the probe that was suppose to save me to blow up. Just like that, nothing has changed. I'm still hopeless.

Chapter 16

So the people told me to write letters to anybody. To my friends, family, or anyone else close to me. They told me to write them and they will deliver them.

I wrote a letter to my parents first. I told them not to worry and that I am okay. I told them that I am strong and smart enough to survive.

I wrote a letter to my bestfriend. I told her that I miss her and that I have so much to tell her. I told her that it is the biggest struggle to live on Mars and that I have no idea how I am going to make it out of here.

While writing letters, NASA and it's team was working on a way to send me supplies. This genius named Ruch thought of having supplies sent to Hermes and for them to turn around and come back for me. I thought this was brilliant. This way instead of just getting supplies, I'm getting a ticket home.

Hermes was notified. They immediately agreed to do it. Looks like Hermes is coming back to Mars. I can actually make it home. I can sleep well tonight.

Chapter 17

I was on my feet in an instant. I need to somehow get to Ares 4. This to me was not impossible. I was determined to make it there. I will make it there.

Ares 4 has no air, food, or water. This means that I am going to need supplies. I have to take enough supplies with me,but I also can't have too much weight with me or it will slow me down.

Luckily for me, NASA is helping a lot. They are telling me exactly what to do. They are telling me what to take and how to take it. I am going to take two rovers and to reduce the weight, I have to remove some of the hull.

When doing so, NASA stopped responding to me. I knew something went wrong so I started to dig around. I found the wire for the power fried! Great. My one line of communication has just been cut off. Might as well kiss earth and Hermes goodbye.


	5. Chapter 18-22

Chapter 18

So everyone has these ideas on how to save me. They are all confident that it will work out and that I will make it back home. Me on the other hand, am not. Yes they told me I will be saved, but not exactly how.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to me. I have to figure out a way to get myself to where they need me. I'm intelligent, but to a point. I know I need oxygen, water, space, and the rover. I have to figure out how to have all these.

I have to somehow reduce the weight of the rover even more. It is too heavy to travel the distance I need it to. I looked and studied the things already in the rover. I took out things I thought I didn't need. After all, I did pack a lot of useless stuff that I wanted to show everyone else back on earth. It was hard to take them out, but I had no other choice.

I have also been doing a lot of heavy lifting. I am all aching and in pain. Back home, I avoided heavy lifting. I always had someone else do it for me. Here, it is not the same case.

I know that the rover is set and I am ready for my journey. I'm still freaked though. Something can go wrong any minute.

Chapter 19

So I have been informed that the crew I traveled with saying their goodbyes to their loved ones just in case. This makes me so sad. I am just one person that they are all risking their lives for. In all truth, I did kind of sign up for this.

The commander was having a nice little chat with her husband. He wasn't so happy as you can imagine.

The other crew mates were also talking to someone important in their life. Hearing this, made me feel like it was all my fault. If I wasn't a dumb teenager who signs up for the craziest adventure, none of them would be risking their life right now.

I give thanks to them. They are honestly good people. I don't blame them for what happened to me. If I was in their position, I would've left me too. It really didn't look good. No wonder they all thought I was dead.

Anyway, they are all prepared for me. They are all on their way for me with good attitudes. I honestly cannot wait until they get here.

Chapter 20

So it has been 60 days since I have last heard with NASA. This is really freaking me out because I need to talk to them. I am starting to have doubts about all of this. I honestly don't know how I can follow through.

I decided to keep prepping my rover. You can never really be sure 100% about stuff like this. I would stare at it for the longest time literally looking for things wrong with it. I was just paranoid. Paranoia got to me a lot actually. I would have it like 11 times a sol.

I also knew that I needed to create myself some kind of map to get to Pathfinder. This was a tricky part. I didn't even know where to begin because of course, a map of mars hasn't been made yet.

For the most part, I'll be going in blind. I just somehow have to get in the rover and find my way there. My whole future depends on this. My life depends on this.

Chapter 21

So I have created my tent. This tent does have some problems to it, but nothing that can't be fixed. I checked the rover again and again. The rover scared me to where I went insane. This was all of my life. This rover had to work. It was all I had.

After the longest while of just staring at it, I told myself that it was prepared. There was nothing else I can possibly do it.

I have to start my journey now. I have to be on way, but I feel trapped. For some reason, I just don't want to go. I have like this bad feeling that something is going to go wrong. The worst part is that I cannot communicate with NASA anymore. If only I knew what was recently going on, I would feel more confident.

If I had someone here telling me to depart, it would be so much easier. I knew I had to do it on my own. I only had me. So I took my potatoes. I took my supplies. I got into that rover, and I left.

I was on my way to what seemed like a fantasy. It felt unreal because it can only play out two ways. I get saved or this is the end of me. Fingers crossed.

Chapter 22

It has been 10 days since I have departed. Everything seems to be going good for me. I am on my way home. I have been following this route for some time. I know that I entered and exited certain places.

I do notice that my batteries are barely keeping me going. I couldn't let this bring down my faith so I kept on going. I kept driving.

As I was going, something seemed strange. I hit something. Something I didn't know of. I figured that I must have not been going the right way. I'm not suppose to hit anything. I froze.

I needed to get to Pathfinder. How can I get there if I have no idea of where to even start. South was the way, but which way is south?

I choose a random direction and I went with it. Halfway in, I saw my worst nightmare. The dust storm! The dust storm that left me stuck here was working against me. Yeah, now I am definitely screwed.


	6. Chapter 23-26

Chapter 23

The storm was my worry now. I have to get through it. I have to somehow make it through. I know how dangerous these storms can be. They are what caused my to be stuck on this useless planet. These storms were my enemy.

As a teenager, I decided to flip a coin as in to which way to go. North or south? Should I go North and pray to God that the storm is going South or vice versa.

My coin landed on South. So I decided to go South. Fingers crossed, I made my way through it. I was out of the dust storm! Hope restored.

I'm behind schedule, but it is still doable. I will get to the Pathfinder and I will see my crew again. My goal is to make it even if I am a little late. They are expecting me.

I continued my journey. I was making my way down when all of a sudden, my rover flipped. This was unexpected because I am a good driver. Screwed once again.

Chapter 24

Flipping the rover was hard. I am not such a big person. The most handy I come is lifting a nail or two. The rover was much more heavy than that.

I used some of the tools that I brought with me. I tried and I tried. It clearly wasn't going my way. I then stopped and stared at the thing. There had to be an easier way to get this thing back to normal. I put all my strength into it. & it worked. I finally flipped the thing.

I looked around. I noticed some few bumps here and there. Some of the solar cells have died but it was no problem. I got back in and started to drive.

I drove and drove. After two days, I saw the HAB. I was there. I was in the location that I had to be in. I have reached the MAV. I somehow with my genius brain have made it.

Finally, at last I just wait to be saved. They are coming for me, I know that they are. I just have to be patient. I will be rescued.

Chapter 25

Now that I am at the MAV, I can communicate with NASA. They can tell me what to do at this point.

I was told to start removing things from the ship. Anything that has no use, get rid of it. I started to do exactly that. I'd do anything at this point.

After I removed everything they told me to, I was told to remove the front of the ship. Yeah cause that is just the easiest thing to do. At first I thought to myself, have these people gone insane. I can't just remove the front of the ship.

Their plan was to get some duct tape on it and everything will work itself out. To me, that was a crazy, unreliable plan. They thought of ways they can take me, but Martinez was having trouble following through. Martinez couldn't figure out exactly how to do that.

The backup plan was that one of them were going to physically reach out to me. Also, insane idea! Now instead of my life just in danger, the person to reach out for me is also screwed. Great.

Chapter 26

We were in progress. The plan was going well. I launched the MAV and they did their part. We created an explosion to get me and I made it back to Hermes. Didn't realize how glad I would be just saying that. My crew saved me. They literally came back and saved me.

I was insanely happy. I couldn't believe everything that had happened. I, a teenage girl with no accurate sense of the world managed to survive on Mars. I made it though so many days alone. I made it through the fear, the anxiety, the hunger, the thirst, the paranoia all on my own. If this doesnt make me an adult, I don't know what does.

I am glad to be on my way home. I have missed it so much. My parents, my siblings, my friends, my life! I can tell my people exactly all that has happened face to face. I will be in the same room as them. I will be eating all that I crave. No potatoes for a good year. I'm sick of those. Wow, I am glad to be going back.

Overall, I was lucky as hell. Luck was with me the whole way. Somehow, the greater power was in it with me. I was meant to survive and make my way home. I was meant to share my story with the world. & I meant to have this crew. They taught me the most valuable lesson, we are one. They all risked their lives for me and for that I am forever grateful. Hey earth, I'm back baby.


End file.
